Traditionally gasoline fuel economy is thought of in terms of miles per gallon. Since driving conditions vary considerably, it is quite difficult for a driver to accurately measure fuel economy in order to decide which fuel yields the most miles per dollar. One can assume, that gasoline has the proper additives to be substantially completely combustible. With this assumption it is possible to measure the caloric value of gasoline and to thereby determine which gasoline is the most economical. It is known that for fuels such as oil the caloric value is a function only of specific gravity corrected to a standard temperature. With my assumption of complete combustability, I believe this relationship is also applicable to gasoline. The mathematical relationships for determining fuel economy from the quantities of specific gravity, temperature and fuel cost per gallon are however too unwieldly and time consuming for the average person.
The present invention obviates some of the problems presented by the prior art.
It is therefore one object of the invention to provide an apparatus and a method for measuring fuel quality and for economy by testing a small sample of the fuel.
Another object of the invention is to provide for efficient, inexpensive and accurate measurement of fuel quality and/or economy.
Further object of the invention is to provide for measurement of quality and/or fuel economy using a minimum number of operations.
Still further object of the invention is to provide for measurement of fuel quality and/or economy which is independent of driving conditions.
Still another object of the invention is to provide for measurement of fuel economy which can be accomplished regardless of whether the vehicle is moving or is stationary.
Other objects of this invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon studying this disclosure.